France says Syrian regime used sarin in April 4 attack

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS

French intelligence has evidence that Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime used sarin gas in the deadly April 4 chemical attack in the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Wednesday, citing a declassified report.

The attack in the northern Syrian town left around 100 civilians dead, and some 500 injured.

The six-page intelligence document, which was released to media and published on the Foreign Ministry's website on Wednesday, contains results of technical and biological analyses of samples obtained from the site of attack, as well as blood samples from a victim.

Among the elements found in the samples were hexamine, a hallmark of sarin that characterizes the one produced by the Syrian government, Ayrault told reporters following a defense and security cabinet meeting in Elysee.

"The French intelligence services consider that only Bashar al-Assad and some of his most influential entourage can give the order to use chemical weapons," read the report.

Ayrault said they knew "from a certain source, that the process of manufacturing the collected sarin is typical of the method developed in Syrian regime laboratories".

"This method bears the signature of the regime and this is what allows us to establish its responsibility in this attack," he added. "We know it because we have kept samples of other attacks and we have been able to compare them."

Ayrault said France was also able to confirm that the banned nerve agent sarin used on April 4 was the same one used in an attack in Saraqib, Idlib province on April 29, 2013.

On April 12, Turkey said a sarin gas metabolite, isopropyl methylphosphonic acid, had been detected in several Syrian victims being treated in the border province Hatay.

The attack led to widespread international outrage, including attempts to pass a UN Security Council resolution condemning it, but the move was blocked by Russia last week.